Smash King24's Christmas Contest 2014
by Smash King24
Summary: THE RESULTS ARE IN! Please see chapter 5 to see who won! Thank you again to everyone who helped out an participated, especially my judges AuraChannelerChris, Souldin, and pokemonrhoades. I hope you all had fun and have a happy new year!
1. Chapter 1

Smash King24's Christmas Contest 2014

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><p>Captain Falcon sat at a lone desk in the middle of the mansion library scribbling some sentences down on a piece of paper. The room was dark, the only source of light being the small lamp the racer had sitting next to him.<p>

"And then Lucina said, 'But my Captain Falcon! We cannot make love here under the mistletoe! Surely someone would see?' And then Falcon replied, 'Do not be afraid my dear. There is no man in this universe who can handle the erectness of my nipples.'" Falcon was happily mumbling to himself as he continued jotting down brilliant idea after brilliant idea. That is, until a certain tactician waltzed up to him out of the darkness.

"Falcon, what are you doing up at this hour?"

The F-Zero racer nearly jumped out of his skin as he scrambled to cover his papers from whoever was standing behind him.

"Oh, Robin!" cried Falcon in surprise. "Didn't know you were here, heheh. Uh… How long have you been standing there?"

"I just got here," replied the mage as he stepped into the light of the lamp. "I was just wondering what you were doing here. I never see you in the library, let alone at night when everyone is asleep."

"I, uh, do my best writing when I'm in a drowsy state!" exclaimed Falcon through lying teeth. "And also when there's no one else around."

"I see. Speaking of which, what are you writing anyway?"

"What this? It's just an entry for some crappy fanfiction contest I decided to sign up for, nothing important."

"Fanfiction, huh?" replied Robin curiously. "I've never seen you as one who read fanfiction."

"Yeah and I've never seen you as one to butt-in where he's not wanted but you don't hear me complaining about it…" muttered the racer.

"What was that?"

"Nothing! Um, look Robin. I'm kind of busy at the moment so would you mind… you know, leaving or something?"

"I will in a moment, Falcon. Right now, you've got me curious about this fanfiction contest. Would you mind telling me a bit about it?"

"Oh… Um, sure, why the hell not. So there's this guy who goes by the name of 'Smash King24' on the fanfiction dot net site. Apparently, he's hosting a Christmas contest for all of the Smash Bros. authors to see who can write the best Christmas story this year."

"That sounds interesting," muttered Robin. "Does he always do something like this?"

"He did back in 2009, but that was during the Brawl tournament when you and the other newcomers weren't around."

"So let me get this straight. All the authors have to do is write a Super Smash Bros. Christmas story and submit it for the contest and that's it?"

"Well, kind of," said Falcon as he tried to recall the specific rulings. "The contestants have to come up with a story that shows what the 'true meaning of Christmas is,' whatever the hell that's supposed to mean. There's also going to be prizes this year, which Smash said were going to be in the form of shiny Pokémon or something."

"Shiny Pokémon, huh," replied Robin as he put a hand to his chin. "I find it kind of odd how you of all people would want to join the contest then considering you don't own a 3DS or a copy of any of the 6th generation Pokémon games."

"Hey, watch it wise guy, the only reason why I'm in this at all is because I have a passion for writing!"

"Apparently…"

"Anyways, the deadline for signing up is December 7th, so if you wanna enter the contest there's still plenty of time. After signing up, you have from December 1st to December 24th to publish and complete your story. He also said something about the stories being judged by a small group of specific people, but he hasn't given away any of those details yet. It's still pretty early in the competition!"

"So what do I have to do to sign up for it?"

"Just send Smash King a PM, or just leave a review on one of his stories to let him know I guess," said Falcon casually. "He's pretty easygoing with that sort of thing, so don't worry if- HEY! Wait a second! Why the hell am I telling you all of this?"

Robin smirked, producing a few sheets of parchment and a quill from seemingly out of nowhere.

"I'm signing up for the contest," said the mage. "May the best author win!"

The tactician vanished into the darkness as quickly as he appeared, leaving Falcon all by his lonesome yet again. The racer stared at his mess of work in front of him before letting out a sigh.

"Dammit. What the hell did I get myself into…"

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Come one come all to Smash King24's Christmas Contest 2014! I will be accepting applicants from November 15th to December 7th, so sign up while the seats are hot! You don't have to be the best writer in the world; you could just do it for fun! There is absolutely no downside to competing, so what have you got to lose? For more information, check my profile for announcements and contest rules. Hope to see you there!


	2. Chapter 2

Smash King24's Christmas Contest 2014

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><p>Ganondorf was making his way from the foyer into the dining room in order to grab a bite to eat. He had spent the last couple of hours locked in his room experimenting with some black magic he was researching using some of the books in the library. He was hoping that there would be a Waddle Dee nearby who could perhaps cook him up something really quick, and if it refused, he would simply punish it by bashing its skull in with his foot. That usually works… sometimes.<p>

As he was about to enter the dining room, the doorbell to the mansion rang, causing him to freeze in his footsteps. He hated answering the door, especially if it was some unfortunate soul like the mailman or even the occasional milkman. He hesitated, hoping that another Smasher would hear the door and answer it right away, but as the bell continued ringing, the Gerudo King only found himself becoming more and more annoyed. Eventually, he caved in and stomped over to the door, opening it up quick.

"Speak, human," commanded the Gerudo rudely, but when he opened his eyes, he didn't see anyone standing on the front porch.

"Um. Down here," replied a stranger's voice.

Ganondorf looked down at the ground to see what looked like Meta Knight without the mask staring up at him. The creature actually looked exactly like a blue version of Kirby, only instead of blue eyes, this character's eyes were white, and instead of red feet, this character was sporting some purple shoes.

"Who the hell are you?" asked Ganondorf with a snarl.

"Good afternoon Ganondorf," replied the newcomer. "My name is Smash King and I'm here to meet with Master Hand in order to discuss some things related to my upcoming Christmas contest."

Ganondorf gave Smash King a queer look, wondering if this was all some well thought-out prank conjured by one of the other Smashers.

"Master Hand isn't seeing any visitors today," replied the Gerudo King.

Just then, Pit came walking down the stairs of the foyer, noticing Ganondorf talking to the familiar face outside. "Hey, Smash King!" greeted the angel as he quickly ran to the door next to Ganondorf.

"You know this thing?" asked Ganon with absolutely no enthusiasm whatsoever.

"Yeah I do!" replied Pit cheerfully. "Smash King is that guy who hosts the Super Smash Bros. Christmas contest on the fanfiction website! Er, right?"

"You got it," replied Smash King with a nod. "I was hoping I could meet with Master Hand to see if he could let me borrow some of the Smashers to help out with the contest."

"I can take you to him," said Pit, giving a salute. "Just follow me!"

The angel led the way as Smash King entered the mansion, bypassing Ganondorf along the way. The King of Evil rolled his eyes and shut the door before resuming his epic journey to the dining room.

"Fanfiction," he muttered to himself. "What a complete and utter waste of time."

Pit led Smash King up the stairs towards Master Hand's office. After knocking on the door a few times, the leader of the Smash Bros. yielded for the two characters to come in. Smash King walked up and took a seat on one of the chairs before Master Hand's large desk, while Pit stood to the side at attention.

"Master Hand!" said Pit, holding his chin up high. "Smash King has returned!"

Master Hand wheeled around in his hovering chair, but didn't look very impressed.

"Returned?" he asked. "This is his first time writing a self-insert in a story. And he's doing a terrible job at that."

"Gimme a break; I didn't know how else to do this," replied Smash as he scratched the back of his head.

"Okay, whatever. Now what do you want and how much is it going to cost me?"

"I'm not asking for much," said Smash King. "I just thought I should give you an update on the Christmas contest this year."

Master Hand bobbed up and down silently, as if he was still comprehending what he had just heard a few seconds ago.

"You gotta be kidding me," said the hand. "You can't be seriously considering hosting another one of those things again."

"It's already begun, and I've got about twice the amount of contestants that there were last time."

"Oh great," muttered Master Hand. "Pit, you better not be any part of this."

Pit shyly kicked his sandals into the floor, knowing full well that he was guilty of signing up for the contest as well.

"Ugh, of course not!" said the angel. "I wouldn't dream of participating in some awesome-uh, I mean lame fanfiction contest."

"All I'm looking for," said Smash King all of a sudden, "are a few more judges to add to the current lineup."

"Judges?" asked Master Hand.

"The judges are the ones who grade the stories. With a rising number in competitors, I'm going to need some extra help behind the scenes. Would any of your Smashers be willing to lend a hand?"

Master Hand just sat there for a few seconds before bursting into laughter. Smash King glanced at Pit who responded with an uneasy expression.

"You want my Smashers to be judges in the contest!?" exclaimed Master Hand. "Oh man, that is rich! Only a _fanfiction author_ would come to the Smash Bros. asking for the world's strongest fighters to act as judges in a creative-writing contest! What do you think this is, a daycare or something?" Master Hand got up from his seat and floated on top of the desk, causing Smash King to sink back into his chair. "We're in the middle of a tournament right now. Do you really think I'd be willing to let you 'borrow' even one of my fighters at the expense of some fanfiction contest? You must be out of your mind!"

"I need all the help I can get," replied Smash calmly. "If you don't help me, I don't know who will."

"Ask around on the fanfiction website, genius," replied Master Hand unimpressed. "You have a whole community full of people who regularly read Smash Bros. stories. Surely one of them would be willing to _assist_ you."

"I didn't want to have to resort to that…"

"Tough luck, kid. In this world you either take charge, or let the charge take over you (or something like that). If that's honestly all you came here for, I suggest you make your way out of this mansion right now before I call down the thunder on you. Like I said, I've got more important things to worry about than some lame writing contest."

"I can help you Smash King!" exclaimed Pit.

"You will not!" retorted Master Hand. "If you so much as try to take any one of the Smashers without my permission, you're going to be in for a world of pain!"

"And if I refuse?" replied Smash King seriously.

Master Hand snapped his fingers, summoning Gerudo King Ganondorf into the room who appeared in a puff of black smoke. Ganondorf cracked his knuckles and gave a small smirk.

"I've waited five long years for this moment," he muttered.

The next thing he knew, Smash King had been literally kicked out of the office window, landing abruptly on the large front lawn. He sat up and grabbed his head as Mario stars began spiraling around his view.

"Ow… Looks like this is going to be tougher than I thought…"

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Ow my head… Okay, well as anyone could have guessed, I'm looking for some additional judges to have in this contest. In order to qualify for a judge, you must be at least 18 years or older, so if you think you're an avid fanfiction reader and would like to help with the contest, please feel free to message me. Also, for anyone looking to join as a contestant, there is still time (until December 7, 2014) so let me know if you'd like to sign up. Rules and such are posted on my profile. To contestants that have already been signed up, you have been placed in the division corresponding to your age (Junior 13-16, Senior 17 and up). This means that new contestants must tell me which division they belong in. Any contestant who doesn't get placed in a division will not be allowed to participate, so please let me know as soon as you can if you haven't been placed yet. Lastly, to the user who goes by the name ThatGuy58, can you please enable private messaging on your account? If I cannot message you, I'm afraid I will not be able to keep you in the contest. So please do that for me as soon as you can and let me know when. Anyways, I'm looking forward to seeing some of the stories you guys come up with! Remember: No posting until December 1st. Like I said, for a complete list of rules, check my profile under the "Smash King24's Christmas Contest 2014" section. Thanks a bunch guys, and see ya soon!


	3. Chapter 3

Smash King24's Christmas Contest 2014

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><p>"Um… Smash King? What are you doing?"<p>

The blue puffball looked up at the white angel with an unenthusiastic expression on his face. He was currently sitting on the grass outside of the mansion with dozens of papers piled around him. He seemed to be mumbling a few things to himself before Pit had shown up all of a sudden.

"Oh, hi Pit," replied Smash King with a nod. "I'm just sitting here going through all of the contest entries so far." He looked back down at the page he was on and began skimming over it before moving onto another one.

"I see," said Pit as he put a hand to his chin. "But why are you sitting out here on the lawn all by yourself?"

"Ganondorf locked me out of the mansion," replied Smash with a sigh. "He's kind of got a grudge against me for making him a laughing stock in some of my stories."

"Seriously? Well, I guess I can't blame him…"

"I know, it's fine." Smash King chuckled, dropping the paper in his hand into the mess before him. "I just need to finish going through all of these stories."

"Did you manage to find anymore judges for the contest?"

"I found a few, but not as many as I would have liked. In any case, this competition is looking to be pretty fierce from the look of these stories." Smash looked up with a smile on his face. "The authors all have a good sense of sportsmanship though! Almost every story submitted has seen reviews by other authors in the contest. It's good to see them helping each other out."

"Yeah, that _is_ pretty cool!" chimed the angel. "Speaking of which…" Pit reached into his tunic and pulled out a few sheets of paper, crouching down to hand it to the author. "This is my entry to the contest. Don't tell Master Hand though. I don't know what he'd think if he saw me participating in the contest."

"I noticed he's not my biggest fan either," said Smash King sheepishly.

All of a sudden, the short author felt a speck of snow drop on his head, followed by another. Soon enough, it started snowing, causing the author and the Smasher to quickly gather up all of the stories. A blustering wind soon began picking up.

"Come on, I'll take you inside," said Pit, guiding the shorter character through the falling snow.

"Thanks!"

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><p>Later…<p>

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><p>Smash King was sitting in the mansion library, reading more of the submitted stories in peace at a writing desk. He hadn't even gone through half of them when he heard the door open, and two obnoxious voices trying to fight their way through.<p>

"Get out of my way! I saw him first!"

"Will you back off!?"

Smash turned around from his seat to see Robin and Captain Falcon run into the room, while at the same time shoving each other aggressively.

"Smash King! I finished my story for the contest!" exclaimed Falcon, dropping a small pile of messy and somewhat torn papers onto the desk. "Sorry for the delay; Robin kept trying to trip me up."

"You're the one who pushed me in the hall," replied the mage, lightly placing a folder with his story onto the desk. "I say one thing about the contest and you think I'm out to steal your spotlight or something."

"Oh please, no one can steal my spotlight. I'm Captain effin' Falcon!"

"Anyway Smash King, I hope that I'm not too late to submit my story?" asked Robin honestly.

"No, you're on time," replied Smash. "You have until the 31st to submit a completed story. This week was just the cut-off week for registration."

"Good thing I caught you back in November then!" said Falcon with a thumbs-up. "Man, that's a lot of stories you got there."

"This isn't even half of them! But I must say that I'm impressed so far."

"Just wait until you read mine then! I guarantee you it's the most original and creative one yet!"

"Doubtful," muttered Robin.

"Let me guess," said Smash King, taking a quick glance at Falcon's papers. "It's a Christmas love story about you and Lucina."

"What!? No!" The racer quickly scooped up his story and began skimming over it. "It's got… action! And… and… suspense! And horror elements too!"

"Horror isn't allowed in the contest, Falcon."

"Er, did I say horror? I meant uh… Comedy!"

"A romantic comedy about you and Lucina?" muttered Robin. "How touching. Have you even bothered to show her yet?"

"You're one to talk buddy!" Falcon immediately dropped his story and swiped Robin's, turning to a random page and reading out loud. "'And there they stood under the mistletoe, the perfect pairing that will ever be known in the Super Smash Bros. fanbase: Robin and Lucina. Truly there is no other pairing that could overcome this. In one fell swoop, Robin lifted Lucina off of her feet and planted a loving and compassionate ki-'"

"Merely a subplot!" interjected Robin as he snatched the story back, his face heating up from embarrassment. "Seriously Falcon, you of all people should know that a story is more interesting when there is romance involved."

"Why do I get the feeling that you two wrote your stories just so that you could make yourselves get with Lucina…" said Smash King with a sigh.

"Who DOESN'T want to get with Lucina?" asked Falcon, glancing up at the ceiling. "Every other story out there has her paired with someone in one way other another!" He began counting on his fingers. "Lucina and Robin! Lucina and Ike! Lucina and Palutena! Lucina and Princess Peach for cryin' out loud! When am I gonna get my turn?"

"If you keep acting like a buffoon then never…" commented Robin, rolling his eyes.

"Getting off topic here, guys," replied Smash King. "Anyways, thanks for submitting your stories. I'm trying to keep a low profile here, so whatever you do, don't tell Master Hand about this. This contest is just between you and me, got it?"

"Understood," replied Robin with a nod.

"HYES!" exclaimed Falcon with a salute.

"Good. So, unless you guys have any questions, I'll be getting back to reading."

"Oh," said Robin all of a sudden. "Actually now that you mention it, I do have a few questions for you."

"Ugh… Me too!" chimed Falcon, although Smash was sure he was only saying that just to spite Robin.

"First of all, are you or any of the other judges going to be reviewing the stories?"

"That depends really," replied Smash King nonchalantly. "Judges have been told that they may leave a review if they so choose. Whether or not they want to give criticism or whatever other feedback is entirely up them. I as well as the other judges will read all of the stories regardless."

"Okay cool. What about chapters? Is there a limit? And how are you doing the word count?"

"There can be as many chapters in your story as you want. You can even go for a one-shot if you like. As for the word count, that's going to be as displayed in the summary of your story. This also means that the word count will also include any author notes you have left in your story."

"Oh, I have a question!" said Falcon, raising his hand. "Is swearing allowed in our stories?"

"Okay, _now_ I'm curious to see what you're story was about," replied Robin.

"Swearing?" asked Smash King. "That depends. If the cursing is necessary to the story regarding a certain character's personality or the way it is being narrated, then by all means go right ahead. But try not to go overboard with it. I don't want to be reading stories where every other paragraph has curse words in it, let alone in a Christmas story. You guys should be able to gauge how much swearing your story needs, if any at all. I would expect most stories to contain little to no swearing in them though. If you just follow that, you won't lose any marks for it."

"Whew, that's a relief…"

"What about other characters?" asked Robin. "My story has a few characters from the Fire Emblem games that make minor appearances. They're not really a big part of the plot or anything but are just there to give the story a bit of a setting. Is this allowed?"

"To be honest, the reason why I made the 'no characters outside of Smash Bros. allowed' rule is because I didn't want to see stories where people would write about say, Krystal from Starfox or Isaac from Golden Sun. I'd like the stories to focus on characters from the main roster. If you want to bring in some outside characters from related Nintendo games in order to help give the story more feeling or more background, then you are free to do that. I just don't want these characters to take over the story. If you mention them briefly or they aren't a majorly important part of the plot, then there should be no problem with that. Also, it should go without saying that if your story has bad spelling mistakes in it, then you're bound to lose some marks."

"Alright, awesome. Now, what's your take on what pairings we're allowed to use?"

"Whatever pairing you want to go for is fine, but pairings aren't required for the stories. The judging will be more focused on the Christmas theme and story aspects rather than the pairings. So if you wanted to write about something like Luigi and Palutena, then that would be fine so long as you can write the story to back it up. Same-gender pairings are allowed as well if you're into that sort of thing."

"Lucina. And Captain Falcon," said Falcon proudly with a nod of his head. "Lucina. And Captain Falcon. It just sounds so right!"

"Thank you for your time, Smash King," said Robin, ignoring the F-Zero racer's comment. "One last thing. What if, hypothetically speaking, I was an author who could not submit the rest of my story by the 31st of December because I would be cut off from internet access over the holidays?"

"Hmm, good question…" muttered Smash King, putting a hand to his chin. "I suppose so long as you let me know ahead of time that you won't be able to complete the story by the final deadline that it would be okay. I don't want to be disqualifying people for reasons like that. I don't expect to be done grading all of the stories until mid to late January anyways. There are almost fifty contestants after all! So yeah, just let me know if you don't think you'll be able to complete it on time and you should be good."

"Sounds good to me," replied Robin with a smirk. "Thanks again for hosting the contest, Smash King. I hope you enjoy my story."

"He'll enjoy mine more," said Falcon snidely. "Mine has the more realistic pairing anyways."

"You're _still_ going on about this?"

"Ohohoho, I'm just getting started."

The two Smashers locked eyes, grimacing at each other menacingly. Falcon readied a flaming fist while Robin had his tome raring to spark. Smash King just awkwardly stared between the two Smashers, hoping that whatever conflict was going to result from this wouldn't damage any of the stories on the desk.

"Am I too late?" asked a feminine voice from the other side of the room.

All three characters' heads turned to see Lucina walk into the room with a folder wrapped in her arms. She had a genuine smile on her face, causing Falcon and Robin to wave at her happily, although they still hated each other on the inside. Smash King merely blinked at her question.

"Oh, Lucina," he said, pushing one of the stories in front of him aside. "Are you here to submit your story as well?"

"WHAT!?" cried Falcon and Robin in response.

"Yep," she replied, placing her story on the desk with the other entries. "Pit told me that you were here in the mansion, so I thought I'd deliver my story to you personally."

Falcon's jaw was almost touching the floor. Robin, on the other hand, tried his best to retain a serious expression.

"Would you mind giving a brief summary of what you wrote?" he asked. "I didn't realize that you were also a part of this competition."

Lucina's cheeks went a bit red, causing her to turn away from the group.

"Oh, it's nothing much," she muttered. "It's just a simple Christmas story."

"You don't have to tell me now," replied Smash King. "I'll find out sooner or later. Thanks for submitting."

"Thanks for having me." She quickly bowed her head and made her way towards the exit. As she was about to leave, she stopped and scurried back over to where the author was sitting. "By the way, Ganondorf said he was looking for you. He mentioned something about 'unfinished business,' but I just assumed he wanted to know more about the Christmas contest. I told him you were here in the library."

"You WHAT?!"

"Don't worry, he should be here soon. He looked rather eager to seeing you."

If Master Hand wasn't around to keep him in check, there was no telling what Ganondorf was going to do to Smash King if he found him. It looked like Christmas story reading was going to have to be a delayed for the time being. Almost immediately, Smash King began scooping up all of the stories before carrying them over his head to the exit.

"I'll see you guys around! I'm off to find a safer place to read these!" he said before darting off into the hall.

Robin, Falcon, and Lucina ended up standing there at the desk awkwardly for a few seconds in silence. All of them were pretty confused as to why Smash was in such a hurry to leave, but nevertheless, that was his problem.

"But in all seriousness, Lucina," said Robin all of a sudden. "What's your story about? Am I in it?"

"Oh, you are…" she said, averting her gaze from the mage.

"What about me?" asked Falcon, sticking his face in her field of view.

"Um, yes Captain Falcon, you're in it as well."

"Alright!"

"Wait a second…" muttered Robin. "Lucina, what's your story about?"

The swordswoman's eye darted between the two men, her face becoming really flush all of a sudden.

"Ugh… You'll have to find out when the contest is over," she said hastily. "Please excuse me." She then made her way to the door, exiting the room and leaving the two Smashers all to their lonesome. Falcon and Robin exchanged uneasy glances with each other for a few moments.

"What's wrong with her?" asked the mage. "I've never seen her so flustered."

"Beats me," replied the racer with a snort. He glanced at Smash King's writing desk, noticing that the title card for Lucina's story was there. It was likely that the card had fallen off of the folder in all of the chaos when Smash King was scrambling to leave. "Hey, isn't this Lucina's?"

The racer picked up the card and the tactician joined alongside him, the two reading over the summary of Lucina's submitted story:

"_The Robin and The Falcon: A sensual story about two friends who end up falling in love with each other after having to spend a week together setting up Christmas decorations. Rated T for lust, but may change to M in later chapters. For Smash King24's Christmas Contest 2014._"

Needless to say, the two Smashers immediately fainted upon reading the card. Ganondorf had stumbled upon their unconscious bodies a few minutes later, but only because he was looking for Smash King. He ended up just shutting the door and leaving them there.

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> This chapter was supposed to clear up and answer some of the frequently asked questions about the contest, so I hope this was helpful in some way! Just thought I'd have a bit of fun with it as well. If you have any other questions about the contest that weren't covered here, feel free to let me know. Just so everyone knows, registration for the contest has been CLOSED. I will **not** be accepting anymore applicants for the contest. Contestants, the rest of December is strictly story-submission time, so if you haven't published anything yet, make sure you do it soon. Remember, the final deadline for posting is December 31st. Good luck and happy writing!


	4. Chapter 4

Smash King24's Christmas Contest 2014

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><p>"…<em>And then King Dedede rode off into the night sky on his sleigh shouting obscenities over the quiet neighbourhood of Smashville. All of the children never got the gifts they wished for, and were instead given a Waddle Dee from the mysterious 'Santa Claus' man. It turns out that a friend was all they really wanted the whole time. And this, my friends, is what Christmas is really about: Waddle Dees. And parties. And eggnog. But mostly Waddle Dees. Yeah<em>."

As Smash King read over the final words of "A Dedede Christmas" using the dim light of a small flashlight, he couldn't help but grin with joy at the thought of King Dedede being the real Santa Claus.

"Well, this sure was a fun story," he mumbled to himself as he pulled out his review notes and began jotting some stuff down. "Has a Christmas theme, check; no use of profanity, check; good spelling and grammar, check…"

A sudden knock on the door in front of him caused the author to jump up in surprise, nearly knocking over his glass of eggnog in the process. A familiar voice soon came from the other side of the broom closet.

"Is anyone in there?"

It was Luigi.

"Um. Occupied!" replied Smash King sheepishly.

"Oh, alright then," said the green plumber before continuing on his way down the hall. "Wait a second…" Luigi quickly opened the door, revealing a pathetic-looking character sitting on the floor in the cramped space of the broom closet with pencils and papers all over the place and a half-finished drink on the floor. The mustached plumber raised an eyebrow both out of curiosity and confusion, while the poor author continued to stare blankly. "Um… Smash King? What are you doing in here?"

"Hiding from Ganondorf," replied Smash honestly, picking himself up off the floor. "I've been locked in that closet for the last three weeks or so. Thanks for letting me out, Luigi!"

"T-Three weeks?!" replied Luigi in disbelief. He glanced up and down the hallway, confirming that there were no other Smashers heading in the direction of this conversation, before crouching down a bit to get at eye level with Smash King. "Who locked you in there?" He spoke almost in a whispered tone.

"Oh, I did," replied Smash nonchalantly. "It was the only way I'd be able to finish grading these stories without any interruptions."

"B-But how did you eat? Or sleep?"

"I just slept on the floor. And thankfully there were enough Party Balls chock-full of food items on the upper shelves to last me this long."

Luigi glanced up to see several Party Balls in an idle mess along the top of the closet.

"What about bathroom breaks?"

"Eh… You don't want to know. Trust me."

"Ew…" muttered the plumber, taking a step back in disgust. He soon found himself putting a finger over his nose upon noticing the reeking odor coming from the closet… or was it Smash King? Nevertheless, the shorter character didn't seem at all fazed by his reaction.

"Yeah, I'm gonna need a shower," said Smash casually. "On the plus side though, I finished going through all the stories!" He put his arms out, showing off the piles of messy papers scattered throughout the small room. Some of them were even pinned up on the walls.

"That's good," replied Luigi, still holding his nose. "I was starting to wonder when you were going to update us on that."

"It's been a crazy three weeks for me."

"You were locked in a broom closet!"

"It was the only way I'd be able to get all of this done on time," said Smash King, crossing his stubby arms and holding his head up high. "But the job's still not done yet; I still need to collect the marks from the rest of the judges."

"Ugh, well you do that then. And clean yourself up when you get the chance; there's a bathroom on the first floor near the foyer." The green plumber was about to be on his merry way when the author quickly jumped in front of him again.

"Hang on. Before you go I need you to do something for me."

"Huh?"

"Get all of the Smashers involved with the contest to the auditorium in about two hours. I'll announce the winners there. That should give me plenty of time to get everything set up before the Christmas mood completely dies on us."

"Um, I think that died about a week and a half ago."

"Just do it!"

The small author scampered off, but not before collecting all of his papers and materials from the broom closet. Luigi just ended up shrugging his shoulders, muttering something along the lines of, "No one ever says please and thank you to Weegee anymore…" It took him a second to realize that the lingering stench of whatever was on Smash King still remained in the area. He eventually took a peek inside of the broom closet to find a moldy glass of warm eggnog sitting on the floor. Getting a whiff of that nearly knocked him clean off his feet, but the plumber recollected himself, leaving a note on the door for some poor Waddle Dee to clean it up in the process.

* * *

><p>Later…<p>

* * *

><p>As the young author began scrubbing the horrid stench of curdled eggnog off of his Kirby-shaped body, he whistled something in between "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas" and "Let It Snow." After a few minutes, he realized what he was doing and promptly stopped, sticking his tongue out as if it had been laced with tofu.<p>

"What the hell am I doing?" he said to himself. "No more Christmas music! I'm sick and tired of this holiday!"

Little did the Smashers registered in the contest know that, while Smash King did his best to appear holly and jolly on the outside, he secretly wished that the season would just end already. It wasn't that he hated Christmas (nothing could be further from the truth). He was pretty much just tired that this holiday season had to last twice as long for him because of the contest. Granted, this was all expected due to the inception of the whole event in the first place, but it still didn't stop him from trying to pull any of his hair out (if he had any hair). Nevertheless, he was thankful that the contest was almost over.

"I swear to Arceus if anyone else tries to get me to read another Christmas story then so help me…" A series of forceful knocks soon boomed from the bathroom door, causing the author to drop his soap in fright. "Eek! Erm, I mean, occupied! Moron…"

"Open this door at once, Smash King," said a menacing voice from the other side. The author nearly felt his stomach drop at the sound of the King of Evil's voice. He soon felt his feet quaking in fear, followed by his teeth chattering as he stood there in what was quite possibly one of the worst dilemmas any video game character or otherwise would find themselves in. If Ganondorf hammered on the door to the bathroom while you were taking a shower, what would you do?

"There's no one in here!" replied Smash, although the last word in that sentence came off as a bit high pitched and girlish.

"You just said it was occupied."

"I'm sorry; your call cannot be answered at this time. Please leave a message after the tone." Smash King then proceeded to whistle the "Super Mario Bros. theme song," but found himself tripping up more times than he could count.

"Open the door!"

"Can't hear you, I think I got some water in my ears!"

"If you do not open this door then so help me I will break it down!"

"I'd like to see you try! No one has ever been able to get past my security measures!" By "security measures" he was referring to the wooden chair that had been propped up against the door since the door itself apparently didn't even have a lock on it. Who in the right mind designs a bathroom without a lock on the door? "So go ahead! Break it down if you-"

The door immediately shattered to smithereens, becoming nothing more than a pile of splintered wood on the bathroom floor. Ganondorf stood there with his arms crossed, a very pissed-off look on his face. Smash King peeked through the shower curtain and made eye contact with the Gerudo for a split second before shutting the curtain closed. Ganondorf just smirked in amusement.

"Nowhere to run now you little puffball," he said darkly, storming towards the shower. He quickly grabbed the curtains and yanked them open, but hesitated when he noticed that there was no one in the shower. Nope. The only thing there besides the running water was a bar of soap and a small rubber duck. His ears soon picked up the sound of scampering feet heading for the exit. Just as Smash was about to make his clean getaway, the author soon felt the cold hands of a Flame Choke around his body. He was lifted up high into the air, Ganondorf grinning at him evilly as he stared directly into the eyes of his enemy. "Perfect. Now I've got you exactly where I need you to be."

Smash King closed his eyes and flinched, ready to accept the gruesome beating he was about to endure. He ended up just staying up in the air with his eyes closed for almost a solid minute before he opened his eyes in confusion. Ganondorf was holding out some papers in his other hand towards the author, causing Smash King to do a double-take at least three times.

"Huh?..."

"If it's… not too late…" mumbled the Gerudo King sheepishly, the dark and evil tone of his voice completely disappearing. "I'd like to submit a story for the contest."

Smash King's jaw nearly hit the floor upon hearing the Smasher's statement, but he soon shook himself out of it when he realized the Lord of Evil was not out to kill him like he assumed. Unfortunately, he still had to abide by the rules.

"Ugh, sorry Ganondorf," muttered the author. "But you missed the deadline. Story submission ended on the 31st of December."

"What!?" replied the Gerudo King, his hands beginning to flare with a purplish ember. Smash King quickly felt his temperature rising and tried to calm the situation.

"Ahhhh, but maybe we can make an exception for you," said the author quickly, noticing the fire in the Smasher's eyes beginning to die down. "Yeah, as of today, all lords of evil, princes of darkness, kings of Gerudo, et cetera, may submit their story at any time from now until the results are finalized!" Smash King closed his eyes, wondering if he was about to be rocketed to the ground as all Flame Chokes ended, but he slowly opened them again upon realizing that Ganondorf was in fact smirking.

"Excellent…" replied Ganondorf before setting the smaller character down and handing him the papers. "I hope my story is suiting to your contest guidelines. If they are not, well… I'm sure we can _break_ a few rules." Truth be told, the emphasis on the word "break" made Smash King feel uncomfortable all over again. The Gerudo then patted the short author on the head before casually strolling out of the bathroom and in to the hall. "I do hope you're in the mood to read one more Christmas story. And I hope it wins first place in the contest."

"Wait! I thought you hated fanfiction?"

Ganondorf stopped just as he was about to leave, glancing back at the author from the corner of his eye.

"I do," he said. "Unless the stories are about me."

He then left the area permanently, leaving poor Smash King to stand cold and shivering in the bathroom with his feet still shaking in fear, although not as bad this time. The author eventually began reading the summary of the story that Ganondorf had given him.

"_Evil Christmas_," said Smash King out loud. "_The story about a handsome and evil Gerudo King who saves Christmas from all of the ungrateful nobodies who live with him in the mansion. Warning: Contains deaths of all hero characters and a certain contest-loving Super Smash Bros. author._"

Smash King sighed.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Good news everyone! The results from the contest will be posted next chapter! Hurray! (cricket sounds) Ahem, that being said, all that's left to do is to tally up the marks from all the judges and determine who the winners are. The next chapter will be presented in a format similar to what you've seen so far in this story. If, however, you are one who does not really care for this story (nothing wrong with that) then you are free to scroll down to the bottom of the next chapter where I will give a summary of the results in the author notes. If you prefer having a little bit of drama and suspense thrown into the mix, then I implore you to read the next chapter as it is and not spoil anything by scrolling past everything just to read the author notes. Now, the question I'm sure that is on everyone's minds is: When will I post the results? Well, that all depends on when I get the marks from the other judges (assuming they've all finished reading the entries already). Ideally I would like to have the results posted at some time between January 12th and January 19th. If you don't see anything from me after that, then check my profile for further updates.

At this point, I'd like to give a very special thank you to AuraChannelerChris, Souldin, and pokemonrhoades for helping me out with judging this contest. If it weren't for them, I'm afraid there would be no contest at all, so if you happen to see them leaving a review on one of your stories or anything, please give them a pat on the back for putting in a good effort. And lastly, I want to give general thanks to all of our contestants! I've never read so many wonderful stories together in my life! Unfortunately, as you may have guessed from this chapter, I'm starting to go a little stir-crazy after reading so many Christmas stories one after the other. Let me assure you that despite all this, I approached every story I read with an open mind, and I'm glad to say that not one of you broke any of the general rules I mentioned at the start of the contest (ex. Story being in English, word counts, etc.). This contest has been a real blast for me to organize, but I admit that it's a lot of hard work. If I ever get around to doing another one of these, it probably wouldn't be for Christmas (maybe another holiday like Halloween, or maybe even something weird like a specific genre like Horror or Western). Chances are I won't do another contest for a long while since I'd like to get back to working on my regular stories. Anyways, it looks like I'm just rambling at this point, so I guess I'll conclude by saying happy new year to everyone and… well… May the best story win!


	5. Chapter 5

Smash King24's Christmas Contest 2014

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Sorry for the long wait everyone. I'd like to announce that the final results have come in and the winners of the contest have been determined! I know it's a little bit later than what I said in the last chapter, but better late than never I suppose. Let me just give you a brief rundown of how this is going to work. The chapter below is written to coincide with the previous chapters in this story. It is also here where I will announce the winners of the contest. If, however, you just want to see who won, you are free to skip all the way to the bottom and read the other author's note. I encourage you to continue reading the chapter as it is if you want there to be some sort of drama or suspense, but then again, it's been a pretty long wait hasn't it? Regardless, I still need to post the chapter, so without further ado, let's get on with the show!

* * *

><p>In about twenty minutes, the mansion's auditorium was filled to the brim with fighters and Assist Trophies alike! Luigi had done a fantastic job at rounding everyone up, although he would admit that he did have a little help from Sonic the Hedgehog. The excitement never seemed to die down as people constantly whispered and murmured to each about who they think won the contest. Near the back of the room, a certain Lord of Evil and his minions were seating themselves behind Bowser and his underlings. Meanwhile, Captain Falcon and Robin were busy shoving each other in the front row trying to snag a seat next to Lucina. Pokemon characters typically stuck close together, and even Pit and his darker counterpart had taken the liberty of manning the spotlights on the upper platforms.<p>

Smash King took note of all these things and more as he poked his head out nervously from behind the curtain. He mostly had his attention turned towards Ganondorf, knowing full well that the Gerudo King was indeed not one of the winners in the contest. Crazy Hand, who was also standing by behind the curtain, couldn't help but notice the shorter author's distress.

"Are you feeling good? You don't look so good," said the floating hand. "And that's no good. Do you need a cracker?"

"No thanks, Crazy," replied the author as he pulled away from the curtain. "I'm just… a little nervous."

"Well don't be nervous! Whenever I feel nervous about something, I dance! And usually that makes it go away." He proceeded to pulling off some cool dance moves, or as cool as a giant disembodied hand could dance anyway. "Come on! Dance with me!"

"I don't know about this…" replied Smash sheepishly.

"Just do it!" He grabbed the shorter character with his large fingers and stared spinning him around. "Do a little dance! Make a little love! Get down tonight!"

"Whoa!" Smash King found himself rapidly spinning around on his toes and bumping into Mr. Game and Watch who was in charge of the other curtain. The 2D man ended up just sighing to himself, but jumping to attention at the sound of the Super Smash Bros. announcer's voice booming over the auditorium, along with a dramatic drumroll compliments of Donkey Kong.

"Ladies and gentlemen! The Super Smash Brothers would like to announce the winners of this year's Fanfiction Christmas Contest!" said the familiar male voice. "Please give a round of applause for our special host… Smash King24!"

The audience started clapping and cheering, causing Crazy Hand to almost lose his balance.

"Oh! It's show time!" he exclaimed, dashing to the other side of the stage and tugging on the ropes. Mr. Game and Watch started pulling from his end as well, and soon the curtains started parting. Pit and Dark Pit began shooting their spotlights all over the place as the crowd cheered, but all the excitement immediately died down when the lights landed on Smash King, who was standing in a daze in the middle of the stage. Behind him, the audience could see a small table with trophies, which they presumed to be the actual awards for the contest. There was some awkward silence for a few seconds before an obnoxious F-Zero racer hollered from the audience, "Hey Smash! This isn't nap time!"

Smash King jumped at attention, blinking in confusion under the heat of the spotlights before realizing where he was. He quickly shuffled up to the microphone.

"Oh, um good afternoon Smashers and Assist Trophies of the Super Smash Bros.!" he began. "Welcome to this year's Christmas Contest… um… Award Ceremony! I am pleased to announce that I have the winners of the contest right here within this very envelope!" He produced a small envelope from out of nowhere with the Smash Ball symbol emblemized in the center. Upon seeing the envelope, Captain Falcon smacked Robin on the back with a cheeky grin on his face.

"Get ready to fork over the cash wise-guy," he said with a smirk. Apparently, the two had made a bet with each other over who would win.

"It's unfortunate how mistaken you are," replied the tactician calmly. "Smash has always been one to tip the scales."

"He better not be! This contest was judged fair and square! Uh, right Smash King?"

"Let me assure you all first and foremost," said Smash, indirectly acknowledging the racer's statement, "that all of the judges for this contest had to follow a strict marking scheme for the grading. This is something new that I implemented this year in order to see if it yielded more accurate results."

"Ha! You see!?" shouted Falcon from the audience.

"In all honesty I think the results are more accurate, but by the same token, using this kind of grading scheme actually takes up a lot more time and effort. Therefore if I ever do another contest again, chances are I won't be using this kind of system. It's definitely a step-up from how the stories were graded in the 2009 contest though, so at least we're on the right track." Small chatting and murmuring started occurring between the audience members again, but was ceased when Smash cleared his throat. "Okay! Well now that _that's_ out of the way, let's get on to the winners, shall we?"

He tore open the envelope and started skimming over the parchment's content. A few Smashers in the audience started getting a little excited again, and even Pit could barely contain himself when the spotlight started jittering back and forth slightly.

"I'm going to be announcing the winners of the Junior Division first, followed by the Senior Division," said Smash. "Just so everyone knows, the Junior Division was meant for author's ranging from ages 13 to 16, and the Senior Division was for those who were 17 and up. The theme of the contest was to write a Christmas story about some 'true meaning of Christmas' that the authors had to discover for themselves. I will announce the third place winner first, followed by the second place winner and so on. At the end, I will also announce the 'honorable mentions', or the stories that came close to getting the gold, but fell just a teensy bit short. Anyways…"

He cleared his throat yet again, reading over the letter.

"Our first story," he began, "begins with a certain Ylissean princess who has no concept of what Christmas actually is. She hears a lot of tales from her fellow Smashers, but overall, the very meaning of what the holidays are about escapes her, and so she makes it her number one priority this year to learn all she can about Christmas… or what it means to her anyway. She gets a lot of ideas over the course of the story from talking to her friends, such as the Hero-King Marth, or moody-boy Roy. In the end, she realizes that Christmas isn't about getting gifts, or eating food, or any of that material stuff. All she wants is to be with her friends, the very people who have helped her grow and train as a newcomer in the Smash Bros. A simply engaging story from beginning to end, I am happy to announce the **third place winner of the Junior Division**! Please give it up for **My Gender is Armin Arlert and her charming story, 'Joyeux Noel!'"**

Lucina quickly stood up and accepted the award on behalf of the author, while Robin and Falcon just sat there with their mouths almost hitting the floor. The swordswoman graciously accepted the Christmas tree-shaped trophy and stepped up to the microphone.

"It is an honor to be here with you," she said with a smile. "I am certain that Armin gives her regards as well. Thank you all for making this Christmas a truly memorable one!"

She soon sat down, while Smash King prepared for the next winner of the Junior Division.

"Our next story is tale about a certain Smash Bros. character who never seems to get any love from fanfiction authors these days. It follows the story about a concerned friend, wanting to learn more about a tragic series of unfortunate events that befell a certain mustached doctor in a white lab coat at some point in his mysterious past. Thanks to the power of an enchanted snowflake, our hero warps through time and space itself in search of the real reason why Dr. Mario is such a sourpuss around Christmas time. With a little help from his friends, Pac-Man pulls through with a life-changing message at the end of the story, teaching the good doctor that the smallest of actions can always make the biggest of impacts on someone else's life. Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to announce the **second place winner of the Junior Division**! Please give a round of applause for **Circuit's Dead and his heartwarming tale, 'The Paper Snowflake!'"**

A round of applause boomed over the audience as Pac-Man and stood up and made their way onto the stage. The author shook hands with both of the Smashers before presenting them with a silver trophy. The trophy itself had a metallic snowflake on top, which Pac-Man proudly presented to the audience while Dr. Mario took a hold of the microphone.

"On behalf of Circuit's Dead, we'd just like to say thank you all so much! And we hope you all have a merry Christmas!" he said.

"Christmas is over you twat!" hollered Falcon from the front row.

The two Smashers quickly took their seats, and the next thing anyone knew, Smash King was onto the final winner.

"Our final story!" he said dramatically. "Or should I say, the winner of the Junior Division Christmas Contest, goes out to a story that serves as a true testament to the thought that no matter where you are, you will always be connected to the people you care about in one way or another. Upon reading this story, we learn about a boy named Ness who finds himself feeling apathetic towards the holidays, having to spend it with a bunch of Smashers as opposed to his loving family back home. He learns that some of his friends, such as Pikachu and Megaman, also share this feeling of apathy in one way or another, as they realize that Christmas truly means nothing unless they have their family with them. As if by some Christmas miracle, the friends learn that the part of home that they long for is always within them, or at least in the form of some ornaments that hide some sort of deeper meaning to them. A simple mellow tale with a surprisingly heartwarming ending, I am proud to announce the **first place winner of the Junior Division**! Ladies and gentlemen, please give a round of applause for **Twilight Joltik and her tear-jerking story, 'Ornamental Apathy!'"**

The audience hollered and hooted while Ness got up and took the stage. He gave a silly bow, happily accepting the gold trophy, which had an assortment of decorations on it like a sunflower, Pokeball, and an eggplant.

"I… I really don't know what to say," he said into the microphone. "Um… On behalf of Twilight Joltik, thanks for everything! And happy holidays!"

"The holidays are over you Irish bug!" shouted Falcon obnoxiously. Lucina immediately jabbed him in the side to shut him up.

As Ness flew back to his seat, Smash King took the microphone in his hands.

"That about wraps things up for the Junior Division," he said. "But I'd like to take the time right now to give some honorable mentions. Honorable mentions include** prowessMaster's 'Christmas Cheer?'**, **warriorcatgirl375's 'A Single Christmas Cookie'**, **AwesomeDuskAngel's 'An Owner For Christmas'**, **Dapper Dee VI's 'What is this 'Christmas'?'**, and **WR3000's 'A not so cliché holiday! (SSB)' **for all coming very close to winning! Every story that was submitted for this division was simply amazing, and I can honestly say that I've never read so many creative and awesome stories before in my life! Please give a final round of applause for all of our contestants for the Junior Division!"

More applause erupted from the audience as expected. Ganondorf remained patiently at the back of the room with his arms crossed. He knew very well that he wouldn't be winning the Junior Division since he himself was not within the required age gap. The Senior Division however, well, he was pretty much banking on that as his ticket to winning this thing.

"Alright, now it's time to move on to the Senior Division," said Smash as he continued reading the note in his hands. "Our first story of the Senior Division turns out to be another story about Lucina. However, the story does not revolve around Lucina trying to find the true meaning of Christmas so much as it is about the Ylissean princess trying to prevent a catastrophic event from destroying the holidays. In the beginning of the tale, she has a vision of the future, depicting what appears to be a horrifying turn of events unfolding Christmas morning as toys mutate into monsters attacking children. With the help of her trusted friend Shulk, along with a mysterious ornament the two were able to pull out of a dream, the friends band together on a quest to stop the unthinkable from happening. More or less, they venture to the mall in search of presents that would make the holidays truly happy for the Smashers. They meet a lot of interesting characters along the way, such as the fruit-hungry Yoshi and the superstore cashier Captain Falcon, but ultimately Lucina ends up getting consumed by the holiday spirit. She tries so hard and so desperately to make Christmas perfect that she almost neglects the people around her. With the help of her friends, she comes to the realization that all she wanted to do was the make Christmas special for the children, and in return is given something that means more to her than anything in the world. I am happy to announce the **third place winner of the Senior Division**. Please give a round of applause for **mystic moogle and her humorous and charming tale, 'The Bonds We Forge!'"**

Shulk and Lucina both stood up, making their way to the stage to accept the award. Captain Falcon seemed disheartened to say the least.

"Hey I was in that story too!" he exclaimed. "Don't I get an award?"

"You're not a main character," whispered Marth from the seat behind him.

"Wow, thank you so much everyone," said Shulk as he and Lucina held up a trophy depicting a Christmas angel on the top.

"It's embarrassing to have to accept two awards…" muttered the swordswoman sheepishly.

"Nonsense!" said Smash King. "This award is really for mystic moogle anyway. You guys just have the honor of accepting it on her behalf!"

"Thanks a lot Smash King."

With that, the two Smashers walked off, and Smash King was soon on to the next winner of the Senior Division.

"Our next story comes from an author who puts every Smash Bros. character in the heart of her story," said Smash. "From each and every color of the rainbow we are given a series of small stories about what Christmas means to every Smasher. From Mario to Meta Knight, if you have a favorite character, you can definitely find it here, and it turns out that Christmas has so many meanings, it's nearly impossible to go over all of them at once! We are given a brief backstory about every character, small glimpses into their history and what memorable pastime they relate the holidays to. Of course, everyone has their fair share of life lessons in here, and you would be crazy not to sit down and read a segment about your favorite character. At this moment, I would like to announce the **second place winner for the Senior Division**! Give it up for **Child at Heart Forever and her cleverly-written story, 'Variegated Christmas!'"**

Captain Falcon immediately darted onto the stage, snatching the rainbow-shaped trophy and holding it high above his head.

"Thank you all!" he shouted. "I don't know how I could have done it without you!"

"Um, Falcon," muttered Smash King. "That award should be accepted by all of the Smashers equally since all of you were main characters of the story."

Most of the audience frowned in the F-Zero racer's direction while Lucina chuckled and Robin shook his head disappointedly. Ganondorf just scoffed. Captain Falcon shrunk down in embarrassment, but still ended up having the guts to speak into the microphone.

"Hehheh. What I meant to say was, Child at Heart Forever is grateful probably at a loss for words," he said quickly. "She says thank you to everyone!"

He quickly dashed off, leaving Smash alone in the spotlight. The author took a deep breath, glancing at Ganondorf at the back of room who stared back with menacing red eyes. Needless to say, the short author let out an audible gulp.

"Moving on," said Smash as he tried to regain his composure. "It's time to announce the final winner of the Senior Division." He took a deep breath. "Our last story follows the life of a certain mushroom princess and how she spends her time with the Smashers during the holidays. All throughout the course of the story, we are given bits and pieces of Princess Peach's background through the use of personal letters she writes to Mario, who is unfortunately away during the holiday season. The pink princess herself doesn't seem to be as cheerful as most may think, probably due to the fact that she has to spend Christmas away from her fiancé for a change. This, of course, does not stop the Smashers' enthusiasm. From Christmas carols to Christmas tree cutting to Santa costume designing, Peach sees it all, and unknowingly ends up retaining some of that Christmas spirit within herself. The clever characterization, along with the charming storytelling methods and original plot, definitely makes this a classic in the SSB Christmas archives. Ladies and gentlemen, I would now like to take this time to announce the **winner of the Senior Division**. It is with great honor that I award **concisponci and her amazing tale, 'The Art of Christmas,' first place in this year's Christmas Contest!"**

The audience exploded in applause as Princess Peach and her plumber hero took the stage, accepting the award, which happened to be in the shape of a star.

"Oh my gosh, I can't believe we won!" said Peach excitedly into the microphone. "Thank you all so much and merry Christmas!"

"We'd like to thank everyone, as well as concisponci for writing such a great story," chimed Mario. "Have a happy new year!"

They eventually took their seats, and the audience was still in an excited state, but quieted down when Smash took the mic again.

"Honorable mentions for the Senior Division include **MahNati's 'Little Ghost'**, **Tune4Toons' 'Battery Life'**, **MessengerOfDreams' 'first breath in a second life'**, **Flame Falcon's 'Holiday Treats'**, **Lady Paprika's 'Café de la Smash'**, **Lizardon the Dragon's 'Above All Else'**, **GintaxAlvissForever's 'Snowy Night Galaxy'**, and **bladewielder05's 'Christmas Fools, the Angel Twice Sings'**. There were so many simply marvelous stories that deciding a winner was almost impossible! Thank you to all of the contestants for submitting their stories! Let's give all the contest participants a final round of applause!"

Surprisingly, everyone was cool with applauding, although a certain Gerudo King wasn't looking too happy at the back of the room.

"Alright, so I guess that about wraps it up for this year's contest," said Smash King with a sigh of relief. He was actually starting to sweat from standing under the heat of the light for so long. "Before we close, I'd just like to give a final thanks to the judges, **AuraChannelerChris**, **Souldin**, and **pokemonrhoades** for helping to make this whole event possible. I'll be lucky if I ever get to host another contest like this again, let alone with such brilliant minds and creators. If you guys need some refreshments, I had the Waddle Dees set up some tables in the foyer. Thank you all again for attending… and have a happy new year I guess!"

The Smashers began to file out and make their way to the lobby or wherever else they planned to go. After the curtains closed, Crazy Hand ran up to the author and patted him on the back.

"Great job!" said the floating hand. "You got over your nervous…ness. I told you dancing would help!"

"It barely helped me," replied Smash with a laugh. "But thanks anyway."

"Smash King, may I have a word with you?" The author froze on the spot, turning his attention towards Ganondorf who had somehow materialized behind the stage. He had his arms crossed and he still had that menacing look in his eyes. "I thought we had an agreement?"

Smash King held his ground and tried his best to speak back to the Lord of Evil.

"T-The agreement's off, Ganondorf," he replied with a stutter. "The contest was judged fair and square, and those authors deserved the awards they got. To let you win just wouldn't be fair to them."

The Gerudo King cracked his knuckles as a flaming ember rose from his right arm.

"Very well then," he said darkly. "I shall try to make your death as slow and painful as humanly possible."

Just as he was about to slam his fist down, his attack was quickly blocked by Captain Falcon and Robin who had just appeared in the nick of time.

"Not today Ganondorf!" said the F-Zero captain. "Why don't you pick on somebody your own size?"

"Lest we tip the scales at you!" threatened Robin as he wielded the Levin Sword.

"Seriously, is that the only thing you know how to say?" muttered Falcon.

"You fools," said the Gerudo King in annoyance. "Get out of my way!"

"Don't worry, Smash King," said Robin, glancing back at the author. "We'll handle this guy. You just get out of here and get back to writing 'It Came from Lucina's Head.'"

"Well, gee, thanks," replied Smash shaking his head. He wasn't how to take the tactician's statement. He soon fled the scene as the three Smashers began duking it out. Crazy Hand and Mr. Game and Watch observed from the sidelines with a bag of popcorn. Things didn't end up turning out great however, as both Robin and Falcon were beaten to a pulp in a matter of minutes, while Smash King was stopped by Master Han who immediately banished him from the mansion so he could never host another contest again. And then the last Metroid was in captivity and the galaxy was finally at peace… for now…

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Yeah, I got real lazy with that ending, but who cares since this is about the contest and not the story. SO! For those of you who missed it, here are the final results for the Christmas contest!

**Junior Division:**

**Third place:** My Gender is Armin Arlert, Joyeux Noel

**Second place:** Circuit's Dead, The Paper Snowflake

**First place:** Twilight Joltik, Ornamental Apathy

**Honorable mentions:** prowessMaster, Christmas Cheer?; warriorcatgirl375, A Single Christmas Cookie; AwesomeDuskAngel, An Owner For Christmas; Dapper Dee VI, What is this 'Christmas'?; WR3000, A not so cliché holiday! (SSB).

**Senior Division:**

**Third place:** mystic moogle, The Bonds We Forge

**Second place:** Child at Heart Forever, Variegated Christmas

**First place:** concisponci, The Art of Christmas

**Honorable mentions:** MahNati, Little Ghost; Tune4Toons, Battery Life; MessengerOfDreams, first breath in a second life; Flame Falcon, Holiday Treats; Lady Paprika, Café de la Smash; Lizardon the Dragon, Above All Else; GintaxAlvissForever, Snowy Night Galaxy; bladewielder05, Christmas Fools, the Angel Twice Sings.

As I mentioned in the chapter, there was a full marking scheme used this time around for judging stories, so if you're interested in learning your mark, you are free to PM me and ask. I'm not going to post them anywhere just to keep things confidential, so if you want to know how you did, then just let me know one on one.

If you are a winner in one of the divisions, please notify me via either review or PM that you've read this chapter. From there, we can discuss the Pokemon prizes. Also, if you won, you are free to add this achievement to your list of fanfiction achievements or whatever on your profile. Any authors who won the contest shall have their profile and story linked on my own profile.

Finally, if anyone has any questions about ANYTHING regarding this contest and the way in which it was graded, scheduled, organized, etc, please feel free to let me know. If you have any suggestions for what could be changed about this contest to improve on for next time, then you're also free to shout it out if you think it's necessary. Organizing this thing took surprisingly a lot of work, and I'm sure I can speak for the other judges when I say that we're all pretty tuckered out after running this event.

And… that's it I think. Thank you all to everyone who participated in the contest (competing, judging, or otherwise) and I hope you all enjoyed it! If you see me hosting another one of these things, chances are it won't be for another Christmas one. I can't say what it will be next time (if there is a next time), but I guess for now we can only hope for the best. Adios amigos!


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